詼諧的語言，生動的內(nèi)容一分鐘快速掌握科技最新動態(tài)?、

?

?本期節(jié)目音頻下載

Microbes Digest the Titanic's Remains

微生物蠶食泰坦尼克殘骸

In the spring of 1912 an iceberg in the Atlantic took down the Titanic. Now, some humble bacteria are trying to finish the job. Scientists analyzing rust from the sunken ship have discovered a new species of microbe that eats iron. Their findings are described in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

1912年春，泰坦尼克號撞到大西洋上的一座冰山，沉入海底。現(xiàn)如今，一些微小的細(xì)菌正在努力完成使其消失的工作?？茖W(xué)家分析了從沉船上采集的鐵銹，發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種新型噬鐵微生物。他們的研究成果發(fā)表在《國際系統(tǒng)與進(jìn)化微生物學(xué)雜志》上。

Researchers have been studying the Titanic’s remains since they were discovered resting more than two miles beneath the ocean surface. And they’ve found that the ship has been not-so-slowly disappearing. Visitors have removed artifacts, and the hull is festooned with rusticles: icicle-shaped accretions of iron oxide, otherwise known as rust.

自從在海平面下超過兩英里的地方發(fā)現(xiàn)了泰坦尼克號沉船遺跡之后，科研人員一直在對其殘骸進(jìn)行研究。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)泰坦尼克號并不是慢慢消失的。船內(nèi)物品已被打撈，船體上掛滿了一種生物群落——rusticles，這是一種外形類似于冰柱的氧化鐵聚積物，亦即鐵銹。

Nearly 20 years ago scientists took samples of that rust, and found that it harbors a mix of iron-munching microbes. Now, analyzing the DNA of these organisms, researchers have catalogued more than two dozen strains of bacteria, including a new one they’ve dubbed Halomonas titanicae.

大約20年前，科學(xué)家們采集了鐵銹樣本，發(fā)現(xiàn)有噬鐵微生物組合在其中生存。現(xiàn)在，研究人員對這些生物的DNA進(jìn)行分析，為二十多種細(xì)菌做了分類編目，還將其中一個新細(xì)菌命名為Halomonas titanicae（鹽單胞泰坦尼西（titanicae）菌）。

The bacteria are bad news for the Titanic, which may only last another 20 years, say the scientists. The good news is such bugs could be used to hasten the decay of other, less cinematic wrecks.

科學(xué)家表示，這些細(xì)菌對泰坦尼克號來說可是個噩耗，它們或許會讓這艘巨輪只能再存留二十年。而好消息是這樣的細(xì)菌可以用來使其它部分——跟電影相關(guān)更少的殘骸——腐蝕得更快些。

—Karen Hopkin

點擊進(jìn)入?yún)⑴c科學(xué)60秒查看背景資料和單詞總結(jié)>>>?

聲明：音視頻均來自互聯(lián)網(wǎng)鏈接，僅供學(xué)習(xí)使用。本網(wǎng)站自身不存儲、控制、修改被鏈接的內(nèi)容。"滬江英語"高度重視知識產(chǎn)權(quán)保護(hù)。當(dāng)如發(fā)現(xiàn)本網(wǎng)站發(fā)布的信息包含有侵犯其著作權(quán)的鏈接內(nèi)容時，請聯(lián)系我們，我們將依法采取措施移除相關(guān)內(nèi)容或屏蔽相關(guān)鏈接。